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THE 



PROGRESS Of THE NEGRO RACE, 



By S. N. VASS. D. D.. 

Statistical Secretary Negro ^'oung People'* Christian 
and Educational Congress. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR BY ORDER OF THE 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS 



PRICE, 25 CENTS A COPY. 
ADDRESS THE PUBUSHER AT BOX 142. RALEIGH. N. C. 




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REV. S. N. VASS, D. D., 

Southern Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society and First 

Statistican of the Negro Youn'^ People's Educational Congress. 



PREFACE. 

I am ot iho opinion that this report should have been printed 
for distribution at this Congress, but I have had no encourage- 
ment to do so, and did not care to undertake so much except 
by order of thp Executive Comralltee. Should it still appear ad- 
visable to print It, I have other facts and tlKures In my olflce that 
might make it Interesting and helpful in the study of the ract 
problom. Since my election to this position four years ago, by 
a full Hoard while the last Congress was In session, 1 have kept 
this work on my mind and gathered material of all kind as I 
have traveled over the country, but I have not made a supreme 
effort for statistics until within the past few months, because I 
was advised by the Corresponding Secretary not to start m\ 
work until so ordered by the Executive Committee. A few 
months ago the Corresponding Secretary then reported to the 
Executive Committee that it was too late to get up any statisics, 
but the Committee felt otherwise, and hence I come before you 
to-day with a report that is not what I could have made it if ade- 
quate clerical help had been furnished me. As it is, I have had 
next to no help at all, and all of the hard calculations I have hau 
to make myself, for I felt I might make better calculations than 
a clerk who would be paid only a pittance. 

If this work has not had the proper encouragement from the 
executive officer of the Congress. I cannot say the same for any 
other parties with whom I have had dealings, for our entire race 
seem to be deeply interested in securing facts upon the progress 
and hindrances of our people. I especially desire to express my 
thanks to the Hon. S. N. D. North, Director of the Census, who 
hurried off to me as often as necessary registered pouches of his 
publications; to the Hon. Lovick Pierce, Acting Commissioner of 
Education for the United States; to the various State Superintend- 
ents of Public Instruction in the South who were uniformly con- 
siderate, and to State Auditors, most of whom were very obliging, 
and to Stale Insurance Commissioners; to statistical secretaries 
or responsible parties of all the denominations; to all the agencies 
at work in elevating our race (except one or two), and to the 
American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia by whose 
kindness I have been enabled to devote so much of my time to 
this work. 1 have reserved to mention last the one person that 
has been of the greatest encouragement and assistance to me in 
this work — Dr. W. E. B. DuBois — without doubt the best quali- 



fied mtin in our race to render such help. Dr. DuBois presented 
me free of charge all the publications of the Atlanta Conference 
issued under his own direction, and never tired of replying by re- 
turn mail to all my queries. I know of no person in the race 
that is rendering us greater help in overcoming misrepresenta- 
tions and setting us right in the eyes of the American people, and 
no person can make a thorough study of the race problem with- 
out perusing his able publications. 

The part about my work that has interested me most has 
been the educational situation in the South. For four years I 
have been studying such conditions, especially in States where 
our people have been disfranchised, and have been pained to note 
the relation between depriving Negroes of their votes and de- 
frauding us of money for education that State Constitutions guar- 
antee us. In North Carolina no attempt to hide the facts is 
made, and the work of defrauding Negroes goes steadily on be- 
cause Negroes have not tested the unconstitutional law by which 
this injustice is worked. The State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction of North Carolina, the Hon. J. Y. Joyner, fully de- 
serves that 1 shall bring him to your attention, for in each of his 
reports he has publicly rebuked his own race for this injustice, 
and has made himself a champion of our people. Negroes in 
North Carolina are entitled to one-third of the money, and regu- 
larly received it until after our disfranchisement. Now we get 
about one-eighth of school funds. I have not been satisfied with 
reports of the United States as to how much money Negroes re- 
ceive in the South, and hence secured State reports and investi- 
gated for myself. Some of these reports have been the hardest pub- 
lications I have ever perused, for apparently effort is made to pre- 
vent any one's ever knowing how much money Negroes receivi^. 
However, by hard work and intricate calculations, I am able to 
tell the largest amount they could possibly get, but do not knov/ 
that they receive as much as that. The effort to get the religi- 
ous statistics of Negroes was another hard task, and I think I have 
gathered the fullest statistics extant of the membership and prop- 
erty. 1 am not responsible for the figures of each denomination, 
for I have had to accept what the statistical secretaries have 
given. However, I think it far better that our membership should 
be given at less than more in number than facts warrant. 

Raleigh, N. C, July 31, 1906. 



STATISTIC \L HKrOHT OF S. \. VASS, I>. 1>. TO THK XKCiilO 
vol \G PKOI'LKS CHIIISTIAX AND KIUC'ATIO.NAL COX- 
CiRKSS AT WASHIXCJTOX, D. C, JILV :M TO AKJUST .">, 
1 )>(><(. 



I shall not undertake to present to you all the statistics I have 
gathered, but shall aim to give such as will throw light upon the 
race as a whole, our homes, our youth, our women, our schools, 
our churches, and our friends. I have been gathering information 
as to our societies and society progress and in business. I have 
not had time to cover every department of our race life. 



I. — OUR RACE AS A WHOLE. 

On the Continent there are 8,833,994 Negroes, and between 
one-sixth aiid one-ninth of these are of mixed blood, and the 
census seems to show tliat the mixing increases. The center of 
the Negro population is now in Northeastern Alabama, whereas 
in 1790 it was near Petersburg, Va. The masses of our people 
are going Southwest, itnd the Southern whites toward the North- 
west. The center of the Southern whites is now ninety-four 
miles from Negro center, whereas in 1890 it was only seventy-nine 
miles. Thus it appears that separation is going on upon a very 
large scale in the South. Nearly nine-tenths of our people live in 
the South and 82 per cent of us live in the country districts, 
but 81 per cent of Southern whites live there also. There is very 
little need of using any method of reaching our people that ought 
not to be used for reaching the whites also. 

The whites increase much more rapidly than our people in 
the South, but white persons of native parentage there only in- 
creased 18.9 per cent the last decade and the colored people in- 
creased 18.1 per cent. A much larger proportion of our children 
under one year of age die than among the whites. We have 
in the South 1,768,848 men of voting age, one-half of whom can 
read and write. It is generally thought that our people never 
move about trying to better their condition. Since 1850 a mil- 
lion and a half of our people have been migrating from one State 
to another, but almost altogether in the South, the largest por- 
tion going further South. 

Negroes operate 13 per cent of all the farms of the country, 
and 2 8 per cent of those in the South, and they own one-fourth 
of all the farms they operate. Dr. DuBois, in Volume VIII. of 
the census, thinks we own $230,000,000 worth of farm property. 
I think we own more, because the census simply took account of 
farms actually operated by Negroes. Negroes own many farms 
operated by whites. In Mississippi we operate more than one 
half of the farms. The farms are worth $3 00 each, and yield 
crops of that amount. In the South Central States the land is 
higher, but the farmers are more prosperous, only two dollars 
going for fertilizers as against sixteen in the South Atlantic 
States. ■ They all paid out nearly nine million dollars for labor. 
Negro farmers are not quite a third of all farmers South, but they 
raised 38.9 per cent of the cotton, i. e., of bales reported. 

We hear much about the Negro being lazy, but a little over a 
third of the whites in the entire country work, and more than one- 



halt »>f tlu' .W'Krot's. are enf;aK«nl In somt- ottupatlon fur a living. In 
thi' South 4 4 per cent NcKiot-s and 34 per cent whIleH work, and 
S4 per cent of those Negroes above ten years of age. Our people 
follow more than ;i hundred and twenty-seven occupations, but 
most all of us set our living trom not more than twenty-seven 
different kinds of work. Of therfe twenty-iu-vi-n occupations, we 
are holding our own and gaining ^^rouud in most, but losing In 
nine. Our people are launching out Into new fields and are mak- 
ing success. About a half of those who work are farm laborers, 
but 13 per cent do any kind of work and 11 per cent are ser- 
vants. 

WlvVLTH OF TIIK XKCiKO HACK. 

it is quite a diflicull nialter to ascertain the exact wealth of 
our race. There is abroad an impression that the nearly half 
billion dollars of farm property operated by our |)"oplf" repre- 
sents what we are worth, but Dr. DuBois has shown us that we 
own only $2oO,000.000 in all kinds of farm property. We cannot 
depend altogether upon the census to find out our real financial 
standing, but the census throws some light. I have resorted to 
State records, and I find four States with data that will greatly 
help us in arriving at a fairly correct estimate. Virginia. North 
Carolina and Georgia keep a separate account of the property val- 
uation and assessment of white and Negro i)eople, and of taxes 
I)aid. and Arkansas also keeps a separate account of taxes paid. 
While the property valuation of .\rkansas Negroes is not given, 
still I can find out what they are assessed at from amount of 
taxes they pay, for they pay taxes on a rate of five and three- 
quarter mills to the dollar. To make sure as to the sum upon 
which they actually do pay taxes. I have twice written the State 
Audilcr. who has been very kind and considerate, and I append 
to thih rtrort two letttrs from him which give me full authority 
to announce that Ne.qrocs in Arkansas pay taxes on $4.'i.517,813. 

•Little Kock. Ark.. April 27, 1906. 
•S. N. Va.ss. Raleigh. N. C. 

"Dear Sir: — In reply to your last. I desire to say that the polls 
are not included in ihe taxes on assessed values. 

"The tax levy in Vrl.ansas for State purposes is five and three- 
fourths mills on the dollar; to raise $2«l,7i:.S on this levy, re- 
qiiires assessed value? amounting to, in round numbers. $45, . 51 7,- 
913. This amount approximately represents the assessed valuei- 
upon which the Negroes pay taxes, assuming that your figures of 
taxes paid to be correct. 

"Very respectfully. A. E. MOORK, Auditor." 



"Little Rock, Ark., July 24, 1906. 
"S. N. Vass, Esq., Raleigh, N. C. 

"Dear Sir: — Referring to yours of 20th instant, will state that 
Table No. 15, page 332, Auditor's Report, 1903-1904, exhibits 
the amount of taxes, with the number of polls at one dollar each 
issued to the colored people for the year 1903. The $53,364 paid 
for poll tax is in addition to and makes no part of the $261,728 
ad valorem tax. We have some Negroes pretty well fixed; many 
of them own their farms, which are well stocked; there are sev- 
eral in this city worth from $20,000 to $30,000. One died a few 
years since in the city of Pine Bluff, leaving an estate worth 
more than $100,000. 

"Hoping the above is satisfactory, 

"Very respectfully, A. E. MOORE, Auditor. 

"Per C. 

"P. S. — We are engaged at this time in compiling figures from 
our records, showing the amount of taxes and polls paid by Ne- 
groes, 1904-1905, but these figures are not yet in shape to give 
out. ' C." 

The Negroes of these four States pay taxes on a valuation of 
$99,928,517. Dividing this amount by the whole number of 
Negroes in these four States, we find that the Negro per capita 
wealth for them is $37.00. Now these four States contain 30 per 
cent of the entire Negro population of the country, and other con- 
ditions warrant us in supposing that the per capita wealth of 
'these States would be a good average for the entire race. Multi- 
plying the 8,840,789 Negroes of the country by thirty-seven, we 
have $327,109,193. But the census of 1890, giving the latest 
data, informs us that the assessed value of property was only 40 
per cent of the real value on an average over the country. There- 
fore the real value of Negro property assessed as above would 
be.$817,772,982. Now the last census informs us that there were 
1,335,32 4 Negro families that were renters, and nine-tenths of 
these may not have listed their property. If we allow only $100 to 
each of these families, they are worth in all property $120,179,200. 
Our churches are worth $40,000,000 more. If we allow one-fourth 
of church property value for all sorts of fraternal organizatoins 
among us and benefit societies, and add $10,000,000 for school 
property which the census assigns us, we shall find that the total 
of the real wealth of our people is the handsome sum of $997,- 
952,182. I think upon investigation all will admit this as a con- 
servative calculation, but unless carefully investigated we may hes- 
itate to believe it. Thus we have about reached the billion 
dollar mark, and that means that we could buy out the entire 



9 

State of Georgia at Its 1S90 real mul not UHseBBed valuation, and 
have more than a hundred and fifty million dollars left ub to use 
in starting off house-keeping. The Mible teaches that "Unto him 
thai hath shall be given and he shall have abundance," and 
having this little start which we have made in the past forty 
years, if our Southern white people do not get their eyes wide 
open and cease to use race prejudice even in business, I do not 
doubt that our wealth will be doubled in one-third of the time ii 
has taken us to amass our billion. We have behind us suf^cient 
money to use to great advantage in overcoming the humiliation 
of race prejudice, but we must remember that this money be- 
comes available only by the closest kind of race organization. 



The following letter is from the compiler of the National Negro 
Business League of which Dr. Booker T. Washington is president, 
and gives some idea of our business progress. Mr. Williams was 
unable to furnish me actual statistics: 

Thicago, 111.. May 21, 1906. 
"Mr. S. N. Vass, Raleigh, N. C. 

"Dear Sir: — ♦ • * * (l) Under the stimulating influence of 
The Business League, hundreds of ^our men and women have 
launched into all kinds of business enterprises. 

"(2) That the number and variety of these business enter 
prises have more than doubled during the past five years. 

"(3) That the most marked advancement and increase are to 
be found in the higher grades of business that require exact and 
special knowledge, character and confidence such as Banking, 
Building and Loan Associations, Co-operative Companies and cor- 
porations for the larger scope of business success. 

"(4) At the last National Convention there were reported not 
less than fifty different kinds of business enterprises that required 
special intelligence to carry on and develop. 

"(5) The reports show that the colored people everywhere are 
showing an increase of confidence in their men and women in 
business. 

"(6) This increase in business is constantly opening up new 
occupations for educated young men and women as clerks, book- 
keepers, cashiers, stenographers and managers. 

"(7) The percentage of business failures among our business 
people is remarkably small. Consorvatism. business integrity, 
diligence, foresight and promptness are prominently character- 
istic of our present day colqred business men and women. 

"The successful business men and women of the race are not 
complaining, and they are doing more to lessen prejudice than 
is generaly known. 

"Very respectfully. "S. LATNG WILLL\MS. 

"Conipilf r of National Negro Business League." 



10 

II. — OUR HOIMES. 

There are more than a million and three-quarters of Negro 
homes, and a fourth of those in the country and about a fifth oi 
those in towns and cities are owned by our people. These homes 
ought to be carefully studied, for our race will rise just in propor- 
tion as we elevate the home. Negroes seem to be very healthy by 
nature, for we are more prolific, but we contract disease in our in- 
fancy and more than twice as many Negro infants die as among 
the native white people. We have so many children that the na- 
tive whites in our section increased only eight-tenths per cent fas- 
ter than Negroes anyway. The fact that these children die before 
they are one year of age shows the unsanitary conditions prGvail- 
Ing around most of our homes, due more to our poverty than our 
ignorance, of course. The class of diseases from which our 
people generally die argues the same. Consumption is a disease 
that accompanies unsanitary conditons, and more than twice ass 
many Negroes die with that disease as whites in any given com- 
munity. The hopefulness of the situation lies in the fact that a 
great majority of our homes are in the rural districts, and if our 
people are properly instructed their poverty will not be such a 
barrier to improvement as in the cities where a good location is 
impossible for us. Our large death rate, however, is due to the 
cities, and we must look after them especially. It would appear 
that we average more than two church members to each Negrt* 
family, but I have been unable to get an accurate idea as to how 
many of our children attend Sunday-school. Prom the statistics I 
have been able to get together, it appears that there is one such 
school for every seventy-two families only, and that one-third of 
these children are reached. Our churches and Sunday-schools and 
other schools ought to aim more to improve the home. 

A very sad feature of this problem is that there are so manj 
mothers and fathers among us either divorced or widowed thai 
one-third of our homes are thus troubled. This divorce evil is 
threatening to ruin our home-life, and has doubled within the past 
decade to such extent that Negroes get far more divorces than 
any other element of our population. The census shows that we 
are marrying less, having less children, and getting more di- 
vorces now than ten years ago. Twtce as many divorces are se- 
cured in the South Central as in the South Atlantic States. Is it 
any wonder under such conditons that the eleventh census in- 
forms us that our people, representing less than one-eighth of the 



1 1 



populiUlon then, furnished lUMrly unL'-tiiird ot iho criminals? 
Wo niako the church undoilake what only the home can accom- 
plish. However, the increased wealth of our people and our re- 
ligious tendencies should encourage us to look for great Im- 
provement if only proper effort Is exerted by the better class. 



12 

ni. — OUR YOUTH. 

Truly the Negro race is a young race. One-half of all our 
people are not yet twenty years old. while the roedium age of 
the whites is over tM'enty-three years. Work among our youth 
is the most needed and the most hopeful work. Half of the Negro 
prisoners are under thirty years, and a fifth under twenty, which 
is a lower criminal age than among whites, according to Dr. Du- 
Bois. Of course this does not make our youth more criminal 
than the older people, but it is an index as to where we should he- 
gin work of reform. I do not know whetner a majority of our 
church members are under twenty years, and we may never know, 
but observation would lead me to suppose not. In every denomi- 
nation the effort is made to reach young people, and few succeed. 
The church and the Sunday-school can greatly help them if only 
they can be reached. About 60 per cent only of our children at- 
tend day school, while the per cent among the whites is more 
than 76 per cent, in the States where the masses of us live, i 
regard this a very serious situation. It is unfortunate that the 
per cent of our children between the ages of ten and fifteen at 
work is double that of the whites, and in the case of our girls 
three times the white girls. Thus these young people are kept 
out of school at the best time to impress them. In the case of 
the white people they work in larger numbers after they reach 
twenty-five up to forty-four. They seem first to get ready for 
work in school, and then go out well equipped. But our people 
start to wo'-k early and increase the number as they grow older 
to fifty-four. Our people should be taught to make the necessary 
sacrifice to start their children in school young. One reason why 
we are losing ground in some vocations and trades is that our 
children are at work doing what their parents did instead of 
learning something in the industrial schools growing up over the 
country. And when they go to school we ought to interest our- 
selves in the kind of teachers they have. The great majority of 
public school teachers know next to nothing and teach for next to 
nothing. The white people have cut the salaries so low that most 
of our young people that once taught are leaving the profession 
where they can get a better support. These small salaries mean 
poor teachers, and poor teachers mean a lack of proper prepara- 
tion and inspiration of our young people. Few States in the 
South maintain reformatories for Negro children. Our own peo- 
ple are starting these and asking the States to help. They are 



13 

very ni?ct?B«afy because prejudice would put a Negro child In 
prison for a light offense, while a white child is kept out for & 
greater, and the Negro child is made criminal by his prison experi- 
ence. However, In our desire to show that we are worthy and 
willing to help ourselves, we must not undertake to do with our 
little money what the States ought to do for their citizens, for I 
have noted that In the South the more we do iho more we 
will have to do. I have reason to believe that the effort of our 
people to Improve the common schools by voluntary taxation 
has really caused the authorities to give us less than they would 
otherwise. We must put our money into our own enterprises and 
let the States do the part that belongs to them. Let us make ap- 
peals and arouse sentiment in our favor. In many cases we are 
already paying for all the education we get In the South, and 
we ought not to have to pay more than that. The fact is, that 
we are paying for all we get in all of the States of the South by 
either direct or indirect taxes, but our people do not know 
this. 



14 



IV. — OUR AVOMEN. 

Unlike any other race in this country, we have a larger number 
of women than men, while the white race has a larger number oi 
men than women. It is to the credit of our men that they are 
more and more keeping their wives and daughters at home to care 
for the family, but we are still behind the white people in this 
respect. Eight times as many Negro wives have to work out to- 
day as among white people who work. If we trained ourselves to 
more different kinds of work we would be better able to keep our 
wives home, and in order to make home what it ought to be, our 
wives must work at heme. However, we have done so well along 
this line that the Southern white people complain of not beinj., 
able to get cooks and house servants. They charge it to the 
laziness of our people, but most of it is due to our more manly 
men and the poor wages paid. With Negro women, as with 
whites, more are ignorant than among men, but more of our fe- 
males are attending school than men also, and it is well-known 
that the churches and Sunday-schools are chiefly supported by 
our women and girls. 

By a careful study of the census compared with the eleventh 
census, I have learned that the Negro race is blessed with noble 
women, but the study has led me to think less of our men. Our 
men are not marrying as rapidly as ten years ago, and more of 
them are marrying women who are either very young or very 
old. There were less marriages and less births, and less staying 
together after marriage. When a white woman marries it ap- 
pears that she is ckred for by her husband, but marriage makes 
but little difference with Negro women, for the percent of labor- 
ers remain high among them. It may be that it is on this account 
that our women secure more divorces than our men, and more of 
them are widowed. It may be that these divorces grow out of im- 
morality, but one is inclined to believe they rather grow out of 
our women growing tired of supporting the family, because the 
criminal record of our women is highly creditable to them. One 
thing that speaks against our women is the tendency to leave the 
home of their youth and flock to the large cities. There are more 
Negro men in the country than women. In the cities the female 
Negro increase is greater than that for the males. • Whether they 
go to cities to make money to acquire property, or whether on 
account of domestic troubles, is not evident fully, but the pre- 
sumption strongly favors a purpose to make money, for they do 
make money, and the wealth of the race increases and there 



15 

arc iimny more women than iiit-n, and tho women are worklni; 
more and more. At present ii third of the farm UiborerH are wo- 
men anionf? us, and they are not to l»e blifiiK-d for not wlnhlnK to 
work on the farm. If our men managed more wisely they could 
let their women stay In the house and not go on the farm to 
work. 

But the crowning glory of our women is their criminal record 
The Census Director, I'on. S. N. D. Xorth, wrote me just last week 
that it would be Impossible to furnlsli me with criminal statistics, 
or even advanced sheets, for the report will not be ready for sev- 
eral months yet. But from the census of 1890 I find that Negro 
women are as law-abiding as any other element of the entire popu- 
lation, considering their circumstances. It Is true that our men 
make a bad record, but the per cent of Negro women criminals is 
the same as that for white women. I mean to say that white wo- 
men constitute about 7 per cent of the white criminal class and 
Negro women constitute 7 per cent of the Negro criminal class. 
I am comparing whites of whole country with Negroes of whole 
country, and not white women of the South with Negro women of 
the South. Remembering that we have so many more women 
than the whites in proportion, we can see that there Is much 
credit to our women, especially as compared with our men. The 
record shows that more women were imprisoned for Immorality 
than for any other offense, but that Is true of white women also. 
The Negro woman is certainly tempted to violate the law, for 
she is put into Jim Crow car with sorry Negroes and often bad 
white men, and she has no protection when she Is not In tha> 
car. Her lot Is a hard one, and she deserves the sympathy of the 
civilized world, and the fact that only 7 per cent of Negro crimi- 
nals are women Is very creditable, for women have more reason 
to violate the law than men among iis. Negro women must resort 
to violence to protect their chastity, or suffer Insult, and when 
carried to court have little show. 



16 



V. — OUR SCHOOLS. 

Thus far my report has been largely an original study of the 
census to bring out facts that could not be secured elsewhere, 
but I have not relied upon the United States reports for educa- 
tional data. The Commissioner of Education is of the opinion 
that our people receive about one-fifth of the educational funds 
of the South and that we have received that proporiton as an av- 
erage for years. But his calculations are made for all of the South 
Atlantic and South Central States, a few of which make littlt 
discrimination. Therefore, I started out to make a special study 
of the educational situation in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and all 
the States east of the Mississippi and South of the Potomac and 
the Ohio, except the State of West Virginia — twelve States in all 
-—where the great body of the Negroes live, and where the dis- 
crimination is more pronounced. At the close of this portion of 
my report, I submit the tabulated results of my investigation of 
the Negro common schools of these twelve States. Forty per 
cent of our children of school age are not in school as against 2 4 
per cent of whites. Our children are 3 7 per cent of the school 
population, but we have only 2 5 per cent of the schools and about 
a third of the teachers. We receive less than 14 per of the 
school funds in these States and our school-houses and equip- 
ments are worth only a small fraction of the cost of white schools. 
Something like four million dollars were spent for colored 
schools in 1904, but if we had received our pro rata we should 
have received more than ten millions. So much has been said 
of the great saci-ifices Southern white people have made for our 
common schools that since this recent wave of race hatred has 
spread over the country our people of the white race South are 
demanding that no further sacrifice be made; but Constitution or 
no Constitution, we Negroes must not receive our Constitutional 
pro rata. This is the popular clamor because the masses of the 
white people have no idea of how much money we ourselves are 
paying for our own common school education. They are now try 
ing to find out, and fortunately for us, four States, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas are keeping a separate ac- 
count of taxes we pay, and three of these keep separate account 
of our property valuation. North Carolina and Florida and 
Louisiana make bold to publish just how much money is appor- 
tioned Negro schools in order to quell the fury of the white masses 
that are tired of educating us, as they think. These definite re- 
ports will greatly help us to make safer calculations for all of the 



17 

twelve States, and my calculutions ure luude with thts new In- 
formation. In these four States Negroes paid taxes amounting to 
84 per cent of the cost of Negro schools, and of course the whites 
claim for themselves the taxes of large corporations, whose taxes ' 
should go as much to our credit as to theirs, pro rata, for we 
help give them the money to pay their taxes. Nor does this 8 4 
per cent include licenses for liquor, gales to Negroes by dispen- 
saries, and hire of convicts, but we paid 84 per cent direct taxes. 
In these four States we paid direct taxes amounting to the sum of 
$913,4 88. If each of the other oi.t;ht States In the group I am 
studying paid the same on an average, the taxes we pay each 
year would be $3,653,952. These four States averaged $228,372 
Negro taxes, and if we make the average very much less, we 
would still pay something like three million dollars in taxes, and 
we receive something like four million altogether for our schools 
There remains one million dollars that it would, appear we do not 
pay, but we more than make that up in indirect taxes. It is no 
vain boast to maintain that Negroes are supporting their own 
common schools by taxation, and it is highly desirable that this 
should be made known to the people at large, for the conviction 
that we are paupers, and stand for little material wealth, makes 
It very much harder for us. Dr. DuBoIs has made a special study 
of this subject, and he calculates that Negroes have paid fifteen 
million dollars for their own education in private schools in addi- 
tion to taxes for common schools, basing his calculations upon 
the known fact that students at Atlanta University have paid for 
tuition since our emancipation $250,000. Out of the 528 non- 
sectarian and denominational private instituitons I am able to re- 
port, it would certainly seem that at least sixty would average a 
like amount, or certainly all of them together sixty times as much. 
If so. then our people are now paying three and three-quarter mil- 
lion dollars for their education in such schools in addition to at 
$3,000,000 in taxes for common schools, and there is not a pe- 
ple in the world making a like sacrifice for emancipation from 
ignorance. In addition to this great sacrifice, our people are giv- 
ing libenilly for school buildings and land each year, but I am 
not able now to say how much. It must be a large sum. In 
many States they are giving to regular State schools, and wih 
never get due credit. .\ large per cent of Negro schools are taught 
In Negro churches. The Baptists, the A. M. E. and the A. M. E. 
Z. denominations report schools supported by them costing alto- 
gether more than $325,000 a year, and it is safe to say that $500,- 



18 

000 is raised annually by our church people for educational work. 
Adding this to the three and three-quarter millions, we have foui 
and a quarter millions, and adding this to what we pay in taxes, wo 
have seven and a quarter millions at least we are paj'ing alto- 
gether for the education of our people. 

The South makes next to no provision for the higher educa- 
tion of our people, most of the extra money given us being applied 
to the agricultural and mechanical schools that have been estab- 
lished in nearly every State to meet the conditons of the Morrell 
Fund. From advanced sheets kindly sent me by Acting Commis- 
sioner of Education, the Hon. Lovick Pierce, only $143,118 came 
to us from all of the States for such training. Maryland, Virginia, 
South Carolina and Arkansas made no appropriation even to these 
schools for expenses in 1904, but two of them gave together seven 
thousand dollars for buildings. Strange to say, the State of Ten- 
nessee makes no provision for the Negroes to get any of the Mor- 
rell Fund, but the entire amount apportioned that State is ap- 
plied to a white institution. However, city high schools in 
twenty-two States received altogether $218,732 from said States. 
Thus the South is giving us a very poor common school system, 
and not nearly as good as funds in hand would allow, while 
next to nothing is given for higher education; the small amount 
they give these higher schools going for industrial and agricul- 
tural and mechanical work. In the twelve States first referred 
to in this report, these schools for the white race were given 
$801,483, while Negroes got $101,625. But it is to the credit 
of these States that most of them have not followed the example 
of Virginia, which turns this money over to Hampton, but the> 
have erected independent plants, and thus more of the people are 
benefited. Not enough of our young people are taking advantage 
of these schools, for altogether they enrolled only 6,72 6 pupils, 
and more women than men, when it ought to be just the reverse. 
The whole influence of this Congress ought to be directed to fill- 
ing these schools, for our young people are not taking to the 
trades as they ought, and also because these schools will not re- 
ceive what They now get unless better appreciated. With the 
great majority of our people depending upon agriculture for a 
support, and another large per cent from the trades, this repre- 
sentation is discreditable both to the Southern whites and to 
Negroes, and I would not be surprised if we are not largely to 
blame on account of our indifference. The higher education of 
our people is provided by private schools that are either fostered 



19 

by the various dcnouiinnllonK among us or by our frlendu in tho 
North. 

Industrial irainiiiK c.m in- luj mih.tUIiiil' I'm a r<)ii<K'' uaiuiii^, 
and our culleges ought nut to be turned into induHtrial Bchools, 
but we need the colleges and the industrial schools, and both ought 
to be liberally supported. 

The Denominational Schools are as follows: 

Denoinlntitlon. No. McIiooIh. Tcnchers. I'lipllR. 

Baptists 105 640 15.776 

A. M. E 2 1 160 6,685 

A. M. E. Zion 10 70 2,500 

C. M. E 3 ♦SO 'l.OOO 

M. E 45 014 12,000 

Presbyterian 113 314 13,852 

Congregationalu 95 787 17.272 

Episcopal 97 328 *2,000 

Christian 2 25 300 

Friends 1 '5 ♦100 

Universalist 1 2 64 

Roman Cathoic 2 16 128 

Total 498 2.991 71,777 

To these add Undenominational Schools as follows: 

Schools. Teachers. Pupils. 

30 450 10,439 

Grand total of private school reported: 

Schools. Teachers. Pupils. 

528 3.441 82,216 

All of the above schools are not secondary and higher schools 
for our people, but 128 of them belong to that class. All of the 
above schools make the Bible prominent and seek to impart mora! 
and religious instruction. This list is made up by comparing th*. 
Government Reports with reports that have been sent to my office 
from the different denominations and institutions, and it is as 
near correct as possible. If there is any mistake it comes from 
the schools of the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the 
American Missionary Association, the former being a Baptist body. 



♦ Estimated. 



20 

I have assigned its schools to that denomination. The difficulty 
with the other body is caused by so many of the Congregational 
schools being designated as non-sectarian. But I think the list as 
finally arranged is quite reliable. 

There are public high schools in the South to the number of 
131, with 836 teachers and 42,931 pupils, so that the whole num- 
ber of our people not in the common schools of the South, to- 
gether with whole number of such schools, teachers and pupils is 
as follows: 

Schools. Teachers. Pupils. 

650 4,277 125,147 

These are about all of our young people that are pursuing any- 
thing like a higher education, or high moral teaching, or that are 
being taught industries. In 1904 there were 1,799 graduates 
from these schools, and about 9 per cent of them only finished 
a college course. 

A majority of our people die young., and a large number of the 
dead were young men and women striving to get an education and 
whose death resulted from inadequate accommodations in board- 
ing schools. But these schools have not increased crime among 
us as Vardaman of Mississippi claims, and the statistics do not 
warrant his charge. Dr. DuBois has so completely refuted this 
slander that I would only refer our people to his publication on 
Negro Crime. He also shows that the common schools of the South 
owe their existence to the United States' early work among 
Negroes which was of a most excellent nature. We owe it to the 
General Government that we get anything whatever from the com- 
mon school funds of the South, and if any improvement is made 
in the present situation, it will have to come from the United 
States. At present the United States are giving our people $117,- 
607 of the Morrel Fund, $24,153 of the Land Grant of 1862, and 
$5,778 from other land grants, making a total of $147,538, and 
this money helps to support some of the schools above-referred 
to. If the South, like the North, had only one school for all the 
races the money devoted to common school education would in 
some way be adequate to the needs of all. But race animosity 
precludes this, and since the American people have about agreed 
to turn us over to the tender mercies of our Southern white 
people, and advised the Negroes to make the most of the situation, 
they ought to go a little further and supplement the small funds 
we now get by a National appropriation. We Negroes have no 



SI 

race feeling iiKalnst iho whites, and we ought not to suffer on ac- 
count of the large amount they poHHess, and the American people, 
on a whole, ought to see to It that we do not suffer. After all this 
feeling against us Is more deterlmtnial to the General Government 
than to the South, and help ought to be given us. We deeply ap- 
preciate what has already been glvi-n. If the United States would 
extend this help It would have the effect of interesting the North 
anew In us. for when the Northern people were most interested 
was during the life of the Freodnion's Bureau. Now nearly all 
the money that comes to our people from the North goes to a very 
few favored schools, and but for the denominational agencies at 
work among us. our higher schools and colleges would go to the 
wall. This Congress ought to institute a propaganda In favor 
of United States aid to Negro common schools at least. 

DKXOMIXATIO.NAIi AT WORK AMONG NFXiUOKS. 

Approprl.i- 
Denomlnallon. V^s i^ctu.ols. Pupils. tlV,'''""^ 

American Baptist Home Mis- 
sion Society 305 33 8,829 $164,971 

American Baptist Pub. So- 
ciety 11 10.470 

American Missionary Associa- 
tion TS7 95 17,272 255.460 

Presbyterian Board Mission- 
ary Freedmen 534 113 13,852 176.984 

Protestant Episcopal Church 
— Domestic and Foreign 
Board 328 97 73.627 

Presbyterian Board Pub. and 

Sunday School Work 12 10.000 

Freemen's .\id and Southern 

Educational Society 614 45 12.000 135.600 

Total 2,591 3S3 51.953 727.11*^ 

• 

These are not all of the denominational agencies at work 
among us. but I was unable to hear from others, and there are not 
many others. These six Northern denominational agencies con- 
tribute about three-quarters of a million dollars to help Negroes 
through denominational channels. Add this to the J338,- 
829 contributed by only three of the large denominations among 
us for self-help, and we have more than a million dollars con- 



22 

tributed by ourselves and our friends through denominations 
alone for our education. It is a perfectly safe estimate to say that 
our Northern denominational friends contribute a million dollars 
annually through regular agencies. It is also safe to say that we 
contribute a round half million dollars toward our own institu- 
tions of learning. 

UNDENO»UNATIONAL AGENCIES AT WORK A3IONG US. 

Name. Workers. ^^^lo^^^' 

Young Men's Christian Association 2 $4,252.00 

American Bible Society 9 5,400.00 

American Sunday School Union 3 1,200.00 

International Sunday School Asso'n 6 4,500.00 

Total 20 15,352.00 

The above represents the undenominational agencies working 
along special religious lines among us but there are a few oth- 
ers not included. Only $15,352 came to us in this way froiL. 
agencies reporting. It has been impossible for me to hear a word 
from the John C. Martin Fund, but that appropriation would 
hardly increase the above to more than $20,000 in all, if that 
much. It will thus appear that the great work of helping the Ne- 
groes has been done through denominational channels in the 
past. 

OTHER AGENCIES AT AVORK AMONG US. 

General Education Fund contributed $50,000.00 

Slater Fund contributed 71,000.00 

Total 121,000.00 

Our people get some appropriation from the Peabody Fund, but 
is does not amount to any large sum. The agent would only send 
me documents, and it was impossible to learn just the sum, but a 
large part went for one school for the white people exclusively. 
These large funds have contributed not as much toward our help 
as is generally supposed. Our main help is along denominational 
lines. As soon as our friends in the North change that method 
of giving, the money does not help us as much, nor reach as 
many. 

This Northern help and our own small donations represent 
about the only contribution toward the higher education of our 



23 

people, and the preparation of rounded out leadorB for tho fu- 
ture. 

Tilts Congress ought to teach our people to properly appreciate 
our Northern friends for their most illslnterested help extended ub 
through all these years. It Is to bo very very greatly regrettoa 
that some of us in our effort to hilp ourselves lose sight of the 
respect and gratitude we ought to exhibit to a people that have 
rendered us so great assistance. We must learn to like tho 
Southern white man without ceasing to love the Northern white 
people, for any improvement in the present status of the race will 
most surely come from the country at large representing the best 
sentiment of the North. 

We need college-bred leaders for our people along all lines, and 
these denominational agencies take a saner and more hopeful view 
of our needs and future than the great mass of white people North 
or South. 



24 







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26 

VI. — OUR CHURCHES. 

I have left for the last my report on the churches of our race. 
At the close of this section I submit a tabulated result of what I 
have been able to gather touching the number of members and 
churches of the various denominations. I think this is the most 
reliable report extant on the extent to which the church is reach- 
ing our people, i. e., the numbers that are being brought under 
the influence of the religion of Christ. As will be seen, we havN 
at least twenty-three different denominations at work among us 
to save our people, and if we can rely upon statistics that I have 
gathered from various denominational statisticians and publi- 
cations and United States Reports, all of these churches have 
gathered into the fold 4,074,523 members — 48 per cent of our 
entire race in the United States — the number being equal to 65 
per cent of all our people above ten years of age, and 75 per cent 
of all our people above fifteen years. This is a remarkable record, 
and is due as much to the excess of women and girls in our race 
perhaps as to the Negro preachers, for it is pretty safe to esti- 
mate that fully two-thirds of the 52 per cent of the entire race 
not reached represent our male element. We have more than 
31,000 ministers at work among us according to the denomination- 
al claims, though the census found only 15,000 clergymen. We 
have about an equal number of teachers of all kinds, and these 
teachers and preachers have accomplished great results for the 
race. The church is the centre of the race life, and is now tak- 
ing the lead in establishing race enterprises. In fact, our 
churches are now becoming so racial that we may be losing sight 
of what is expected of us along high moral lines. Forty-four per 
cent of all Negroes over ten years of age are unable to read and 
write as against only 6 per cent among the white people. In the 
South we stand 48 against 11 per cent among the whites unable 
to read ,and our women are more illiterate than our men. In 
1890 colored prisoners were three times as numerous in propor- 
tion to our population as white prisoners. Knowing conditions 
that obtain in the South our first inclination is to regard our 
large prison population as due to prejudice but the census shows 
that colored people of the North are more criminal than those of 
the South, and certainly our people in the North suffer from little 
race prejudice in the courts. We have been grossly slandered along 
this line, and efforts have been made to prove that the criminals 
come as much from our educated as our ignorant classes and the fig- 
ures of the census may not be reliable; but at the same time we 



uurselves have reason to bcliovo that crime dIminiHhtrri quite hIow- 
ly if It Is not IncreaHlnj; anions uh, and oHpcclally In the Stales 
north of us that are filling with some of the bad element of the 
South. Nearly one-half of the crimes that brouKht lmi)nHonment 
were offenses against property and nearly a fourth against the 
persfni. This is just what wo niiKht expect where we have so 
much ignorance. Forty per cent of all the rape the ccmsus shows 
was coniniittod by Negroes. The records show that Negroes get 
twice as many divorces as whites to our population. To correct 
this condlton, and reach the masses of the race, there Is no power 
that equals the church for the present generation. Our churches 
are largely responsible for this condition to-day, If we only knew 
it. and this Congress ought to devise some means of reaching the 
church people to see our condition as it is. 

The statistics sent me from the denominations and secured 
from other sources do not furnish the Information we need. They 
tell us of the number of preachers, churches, members and col- 
lections. We wish to know how many were converted, how many 
dismissed and for what cause; how many restored, how many in 
the Sunday-school and young people's meetings, how many at 
tend prayer-raeetlng, what is being done for and by the fireside, 
how many are engaged in active Christian service, and along what 
line. These are some of the things we ought to know from de- 
nominational statisticians, and there ought to be no estimating 
nor guessing, but we ought to report what we know and leave the 
other unreported. Each local church and Sunday-school and 
Young People's Society ought to have it3 own statistician, fo 
unless the facts are before us we cannot act wisely. 



28 



LIST OF CHURCHES, MEMBERS, AND VALUE OF CHURCH 
PROPERTY OF NEGRO DENOMINATIONS. 



Denomination. Churches. 
Baptists — 

Missionary 16,996 

Free Will 5 

Primitive 323 

Old Two Seed 15 



Members. 

2,110,269 

271 

18,162 

265 



Value of 
Property. 

$14,376,372 

13,300 

135,427 

930 



Total 17,339 2,128,967 *14,526,029 



Methodists — 

A. M. E 

A. M. E. Zion. . . , 

C. M. E 

M. E 

A. U. M. E 

Congregational . 

U. Am. M. E 

M. E. Protestant 

Total 



Presbyterians — 

United States 
Cumberland . 
Afro-American 



Total 



Other Deuomiiiations — 

Protestant Episcopal . . 
Congregationalists . . . 

Christians 

Lutherans 

Disciples of Christ . . . 
Evangelist Missionary 
Reformed Episcopal . . 
Catholics, Roman . . . . 



Total 



5,321 

3,030 

2,376 

2,357 

90 

9 

42 
54 



353 

558 
43 



954 



200 

230 

150 

10 

277 

11 

37 

31 



946 



769,590 

545,073 

214,987 

327,000 

3,887 

319 

2,279 

3,183 



$11,975,256 

5,094,000 

1,713,366 

4,566,951 

54,440 

525 

187,600 

35,445 



13,279 1,866,318 **23,627,583 



21,341 

42,000 
1,883 

65,224 



15,000 
12,155 
16,000 

305 
18,587 

951 

1,723 

14,517 

79,238 



$850,000 

195,826 

2 2,2 00 

1,068,026 



5192,750 

246,125 

135, 82h 

15,150 

176,795 

2,000 

18,401 

237,400 

787,046 



* Does not include parsonages, but church-houses only 
** Includes parsonages and all church property. 



29 

This table Is made up nf orlylniil ilala for the most pari, but 
the tlKures of some of the snialler (U-noniiiiatiuns, and uonic part 
of the flRures of sonic others, are takm from the Census Report 
for 1890, the last available (loverninint Report. 

(ieiienil Summary — 

Baptists 17.33;t 2.12S,'J67 $14,526,029 

Methodists i:5.27'J 1,866,31S 23,027.583 

All Others IMG 79.23S 787.046 

Grand total 31.564 4,074,523 38,843,658 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

Sunda.\ -schools reported by the four largest denominations 
among us, representing 3,751.962 members, 28,213 ministers, and 
27.704 churches, are as follows: 

«choo... ■^"Tnif-"rs''"' ^^■'-'-" 

Baptists 12.569 51.310 739.959 

A. M. E 5,775 45,958 320,485 

A. M. E. Zion 2,034 14,404 122.467 

M. E 3,682 22,885 184,923 

Total 24,060 134,557 1,182,911 

It has been very difficult to get accurate statistics of Sunday- 
schools, but these four large denominations will give some Idea 
of what is being done for the young people through this depart- 
ment of the church. Altogether, these denominations above gath- 
er Into their Sunday-schools 1,317,468 officers and scholars who 
are studying the Bible and preparing themselves as workers. 
From other reports in our possession we conclude that at least 
two-fifths as many persons attend these schools as are members 
of our churches. There are 3,500,194 young Negroes between five 
and twenty years of age, but not half of them attend Sunday- 
school. The fact Is, that more attend the common schools dally 
than are connected with the Sunday-schools. Parents should ex- 
act of their common school teachers that they teach In the Sun- 
day-school and seek to enroll their pupils in same. Here is offer- 
ed an oi)port unity to instruct the large number that are not In the 
common schools also. 



30 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES. 

The Missionary Baptists and the African Methodist Episcopal 
Zion denominations alone furnished me the number of these socie- 
ties and the young people enrolled. The societies of these two 
churches numbered 5,596, and enrolled 139,280 members. These 
denominations represent 2,655,342 members, and yet only one- 
twentieth of the members attend the young people's meetings, as 
a general thing the only prayer-meeting suitable to develop and 
interest both the young and also other intelligent persons. Thus 
both the Sunday-school and the young people's societies offer a 
great opportunity for service to our young people of Christian 
zeal. 

DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 

Three of the large denominations report the following educa- 
tional statistics: 

Denomination. Schools, '^^^j.'^^' Pupils. Value Plants. E.xpenses 

Baptist* 8S 440 8,947 $600,000 $157,324 

A. M. E 24 160 6,685 750,000 125,000 

A. M. E. Zion ... 10 70 2,500 200,000 50,000 



Total 122 670 18,132 1,550,000 338,829 

In another place I give a list of all the denominational schools, 
but they do not all begin to represent what Negro denominations 
are doing alone. They represent the combined help of Negroes 
and their brethren of like denominations in the white race in the 
North. In the above table we have what three of our own large 
denominations are doing themselves. 



*Does not include schools of American Baptist Home Mission 
Society. 



31 

COXCLVSION. 

I wish that I might have had ample time and encouragement 
to make this report more extensive. The reader can see that what 
I have gathered has cost me considerable labor, for I have had 
to go over a great body of figures In the census to get what I 
wished especially, and have had no little trouble to get statistics 
from other sources. My real object has been to make the Negro 
Young People's Christian and Educational Congress of some real 
benefit to our peoi)le. If the Congress is only to meet for a ran- 
dom and general discussion there are many of us that do not think 
the money spent in getting so many i)eople together is justified. 
But If the Congress is to meet to study the real condition of our 
people, and to labor patiently to find a remedy for this condition, 
then I am sure all will agree tliat It Is capable of doing great 
good for our race. The fact is that the statistical report ought to 
be the center of all the activities of the Congress and the secre- 
tary in charge of this work ought to be given ample assistance in 
the shape of clerical help to accomplish the best work. The last 
Congress at Washington collected something like $3,000, and oi 
this amount only $2 5 were actually paid for satlstlcai work, 
though another $75 may be paid at some time in the future, and it 
may not. The work was so laborious that I did not stand for re- 
election as Statistician, for my time belongs to the American 
Baptist Publication Society, and I would not be justified In devot- 
ing so much time to this work. It Is not wise to take all of the 
money collected at the Congress for getting up the meeting. 
Something ought to be devoted to giving back to the people some- 
thing of real benefit. It is to be hoped that in the future a differ- 
ent course will be followed. We now have a constitution, and i 
used all my Influence to have placed there a provision giving ample 
help to the next Statistician. We also have a new set of officers 
all around nearly except on (he Executive Committee. I commend 
to our people Prof. Kelly Miller, who succeeds me In office, and 
ask for him the hearty co-operation of our people in order that he 
may give us an exhaustive report covering every line of race ac- 
tivity, for he Is certainly suited to the work to which he has been 
called. Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that from this report some 
real help will come to those of us that have the real Interests of 
the people at heart and are unselfishly laboring to elevate the 
masses. 

This pamphlet Is sold simply to make it possible for the people 
to get hold of It, and if possible, to cover all the expenses of Its 
compilation and publication. 

Yours faithfully. S. N. V.VSS. 

Raleigh, ,\. C, August 9, 1906. Statistician. 



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